CLEVELAND — Cleveland dance teacher Terence Greene, 54, pleaded not guilty to a 74-court indictment, including felony charges of rape, kidnapping, and assault, during his arraignment hearing in the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Wednesday afternoon.
After the hearing, Greene's attorney, Scott Ramsey, said his client is innocent.
"People lie," said Ramsey. "I know there’s a lot of victims who are saying a lot of terrible things. He (Greene) maintains his innocence. He told me he did not do this."
Greene is accused of abusing several students between August 1998 and October 2019 when he was a dance teacher at the Cleveland School of the Arts and Tri-C's Creative Arts Academy.
The alleged victims include Nehemiah Spencer, who attended Wednesday's hearing, along with a handful of the alleged victims' family members.
"I cringed a bit, just knowing what he’s fully capable of," said Spencer about seeing Greene. "It at least gives me like a little bit of hope that we’re gonna get him off the streets soon."
The criminal indictment is far from Greene's only legal trouble.
In July, News 5 broke the news that Spencer and six other former students filed a federal lawsuit against Greene and CMSD.
RELATED: Cleveland dance teacher accused of sexually abusing students at Cleveland School of the Arts
A student who alleges Greene sexually assaulted him in Oct. 2019 filed a lawsuit against Greene and Tri-C last month.
Greene was hired at Tri-C in 2015 after resigning from CMSD in 2014 over sexual abuse allegations.
Greene was found not guilty of four counts of unlawful sex with a minor in 2004.
The judge set Greene's bond at $100,000 during Wednesday's hearing, despite prosecutors' request to raise the amount to $500,000.
Greene will continue to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
If convicted, Greene will spend the rest of his life behind bars.
He is scheduled for a preliminary hearing in the case at 9 am on October 5.
